Drop vs. Drive: Which to Use and WHEN? (3rd Shots)

The third shot is the most crucial part to scoring on your serve in pickleball. But how do you decide which of the three types of third shots to hit? Well, before making this video, I sat down and watched hundreds of points from the PPA Tour, pro players, and I took note of which shot they were choosing on their thirds. And what I discovered was that 30% of the time, pro players use a drive on the third shot or a hard shot on the third shot. 70% of the time, players choose to use softer shots like drops or hybrids. But how do they get to this ratio? Let me tell you, it's not random. There's specific times where going for these shots makes a lot more sense. So throughout this video, I'm gonna take you through exactly what you need to know to make the best possible decision on every third shot. So when it comes to choosing which third shot to hit, there's a few things to consider. The first is the depth and the difficulty of the return. So you're hitting your third shot off of player's return. So in these examples, I'm gonna have Kennedy demonstrating third shots. When it comes to depth and difficulty, you may have heard that on shorter balls, you should go for more drives because it's obviously easier to hit the ball hard. And on harder balls or more neutral balls, you should be going for more drops. So I think that this is still true for the most part, but there are some additional things to consider and the game has been changing a lot with more powerful paddles. So now I'm seeing a lot of players going for drives on really difficult third shots. So when somebody hits the ball to you really hard, sometimes it can be challenging to have enough control to go for a drop, especially if you're just getting into the game. So one thing I'm seeing is pros using drives on more difficult shots to essentially put themselves in a position to hit a drop on the next shot. So what that would look like is this. She's gonna hit a drive. Next one, she's gonna hit a drop and then she's gonna come in. Pros, when they hit a drive, around 80% of the time, they use a drop on the next shot. So they're not just driving and crashing in. They're actually generally just using the drive as a mechanism to give themselves an easier one on the next ball. So I guess the point is, don't just think on easy shots, you should go for drives and on very hard shots, you should go for drops. It's actually sometimes better on the harder shots to go for drives based on your skills, which I'll talk about more later. That said, as I mentioned, 70% of the time, pros are still using drops. So I think a rule of thumb is if you have time and if you're coordinated, you should be able to go for a drop most of the time and that's generally gonna be the safer, more reliable option. But if you have a really short ball or a really hard ball, sometimes driving can actually be a little bit more effective just to get the point started. Because remember, the goal of the third shot, the number one goal is to make them play. So if you're going for a drop when you might miss or you might give them a super high ball that they can take control of the point with, it's better to go for a drive. Another thing to consider is that at the pro level, pros are very good at responding to drives. At a recreational level, players are not going to be as good at it. They're not as good at reacting to hard shots. So at the rec level, you might wanna bring the drive percentage up a little bit. So you don't need to be only driving 30% of the shots. If it's working, you can get that up to 50%, 60% even. I would keep it there though. You want to make sure you're developing your drops that at higher levels, you have something reliable that you can move forward with. So as a recap of the section, if you struggle with drops on challenging shots, I recommend going for a drive on the third shot and then using a drop on the fifth shot to move forward. That's a really good play. We call it the drive drop combo that lets you move forward. On neutral balls where you have time, drops are always gonna be your best bet. So even if you don't have this shot, you should learn to develop it so that you can use it consistently. If you ever get a really easy ball like this, you probably are always gonna be better off attacking and driving because your opponents have less time to react. If it's higher, you have a better angle over the net and you can control the point on that next shot with it. That's a general rule of thumb. Obviously, what we're gonna go over later is that it's not always the case, but in these circumstances, generally, that's what you want to do. Another thing that's really important in terms of what makes you decide to hit a drop, a drive, or a hybrid is the location of the return. So when I was watching the pros, one thing I noticed is that the number one time they would go for a drive is off of a forehand in the middle. So generally, the left side player, because they're righty, when they get a forehand in the middle, it's a very likely time that they'd go for a drive. And the reason for that is because when you're driving from the middle, you can go right down the middle. It's the shortest distance from the other side of the court. So it can be a little bit confusing. It's also, for most players, easier to drive with their forehand. So when it goes to that left side player, comes right to their forehand, they can drive. When the right side player, if they're righty, it's coming to their forehand, it's really far off the court, which generally, players return down the middle, so it's not as common for it to be going to that right side player's forehand. So this is probably the number one return that you can go for a third shot drive on right down the middle. When it comes to drops, you should be able to hit a drop off both sides. Like Kennedy, she can hit a drop on her forehand, and she can hit a drop on her backhand too. But when it comes to drives, you don't need to be able to hit a good drive from both sides. A lot of the pros almost exclusively drive from their forehand. So when it comes down the middle, that's why they're going for that shot a lot. And when it comes to forehands, you still need to be able to hit a drop because 70% of the time, pros are hitting drops. They're not driving from their forehand every time. They're doing it more from that side, but depending on the situation, you may need to be able to hit a drop from both sides. So if you don't have that, highly recommend developing it. It's gonna make you more of a complete player, and you're gonna have less holes in your game. The next thing that you need to keep in mind when choosing between what third shot to hit is the position of your opponent. So generally, the person not hitting the return is always gonna be standing right at the kitchen, right? But the person that's running in off the return doesn't always make it to the kitchen before you hit your third shot. So if I'm hitting my return, Kennedy should be looking at where I'm standing to help her determine which shot to pick. So the further back I'm in when Kennedy's making contact with the ball, the more she should lean towards using drives and hybrids. So in terms of hybrids, the reason's obvious. So a hybrid is where she kind of goes for an off-speed drive at my feet like that. So if she has space and I'm further back past the kitchen line, that's one of the best shots to hit because if she does it well, she can pounce in and she can crush that next shot because I kind of have to hit it up and she can do that, right? The reason that she'd go for a drive is because if I'm still moving in and she goes for a drive, it's hard for me to react to that. I can't necessarily hit a perfect shot if I'm not on balance. So if you see that your opponents are getting in slow, you can try to go for drives and hybrids towards the returning player. That said, as the level of who you're playing gets higher and higher, they're almost always gonna be trying to get to this position right before you hit the shot. So if she tries to go for a hybrid when I'm right at the kitchen, I can attack it right at her feet, right? And I'm gonna win the point. So if your opponents are getting to the kitchen, you want to use more drops because they're obviously going to be able to take more advantage of the drives and hybrids that you're playing, which is why pros are using 70% drops because they're always in the right position on that fourth shot. They're always right at the kitchen. So watch who you're playing. Most rec players are not getting in that quickly. So if they're not, you should take advantage of that by going for more hybrids and drives. If they are, lean more towards drops because they're gonna be in a better position to attack. The other two things that are gonna have potentially the biggest impact on your third shot strategy is your opponent's level and strengths and your own level and strengths and how good you are at each specific third shot. So if Kennedy is really good at drops, she might want to just go for more drops, right? If she's really good at dropping in difficult situations, she doesn't need to go for drives because she's gonna be consistent on her drop and it's a really reliable shot. However, if Kennedy's drops aren't that good, that's where she's gonna want to be using drives more often because it's gonna make her more consistent. Your goal is to make your opponent play. If you're missing, you're not making them play and the shot that you're using doesn't even matter. So the first thing is making them play with a quality ball, which a lot of that just depends on what you're good at. Over time, you want to be good at everything, but if right now you're only good at drives, you're not good at drops, use more drives. It's totally fine. The other thing is your opponent's level and strengths. If you're driving the ball at your opponent and they're just missing, it's obviously an indication you should go for more drives. Some people have poor reflexes or they're just not good at the net and they have weak volleys. In that situation, you want to go for more drives at them because it's working, right? However, some players are really good at responding to drives. So if you're playing someone and they're just getting all of your drives back right at your feet, just like this, maybe they're a tennis player, maybe they just have really good volleys, that's your indication it's going to be better to go for more drops, right? Because when you go for a drop, you can always come in off of a drop. So if you're hitting a drive and they're good at responding to it, they're going to push you back. But a drop, it always allows you to come in or it forces your opponent to make a bad decision where you can attack. So if they're good at responding to drives, go for more drops. If they're bad at responding to drives, go for more drives. You always want to adjust your strategy based on what your opponent is doing and how they're responding to your shots. You never want to have a one size fits all approach when it comes to your third shot strategy. Every day when you go on the court, you're going to be playing different people and you're going to feel different on every shot. So you should tailor your strategy to what best suits you that day and you're going to win way more games. And if you guys want to hear some double strategy tips that you might not have heard before, watch this.